Author Topic: Sunswift Solar Land Speed Record  (Read 2781 times)

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Offline Graham

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Sunswift Solar Land Speed Record
« on: January 07, 2011, 06:20:54 PM »
Thought some of you might be interested in the Guinness record broken by a team from the University of New South Wales in Sydney:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/aussie-car-breaks-a-world-speed-record-20110107-19i7j.html

With a bit of news footage:

http://ten.com.au/video-player.htm?movideo_m=86410&movideo_p=40983

Or some extended footage on youtube if you prefer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI8sApVfOoM

It's taken me over 5 years to convince and prod this team to break a land speed record, but yesterday they finally did it with their most recent car, Sunswift IV. I led the aerodynamic team back in 2008 when we originated and developed the design for what went on to become the team's most successful vehicle to date.

We had originally hoped to go for the FIA mile/km, but this is a road car (designed for the Green Global Challenge) that needs a run-up and it's extremely hard to find a completely flat piece of road over 2 miles long that someone will give over to a bunch of students. The Royal Australian Navy were kind enough to let us use their base at Nowra, and we settled for the Guinness Record (which was considerably higher speed than the FIA record but with more relaxed rules regarding track gradients).

The previous 22 year, 78km/h record broken was set by the multi-million dollar GM Sunraycer using a 1.5kW array. Sunswift averaged 88km/h on a fairly cloudy day - a partial splash of sun came at just the right moment to give a boost over both the initial and return runs - with a peak speed of 95km/h in the time trap, on an approximate array output of 1.2kW.

It's a great achievement for a team largely made up of undergraduate students, and they now turn their attention to the 2011 Global Green Challenge rally from Darwin to Adelaide later in the year, where they will be one of the favourites to win the solar race.

Not nearly as exciting as going hundreds of mph on the salt of course, but we're really happy with the result!   :cheers:
Graham Doig
Fluids Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Projects - www.thinkflip.net
Aerospace Engineering Department
California Polytechnic State University

Offline debgeo

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Re: Sunswift Solar Land Speed Record
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2011, 06:40:25 PM »
Fantastic!!!! good luck in future events :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
George---Sidecar in progress

Offline donpearsall

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Re: Sunswift Solar Land Speed Record
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2011, 12:39:35 AM »
Congratulations! There is no less engineering in your 88 kph than in our 250 mph vehicles. You should be proud. Good luck in the Solar race coming up.

Don
550 hp 2003 Suzuki Hayabusa Land Speed Racer

Offline Tman

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Re: Sunswift Solar Land Speed Record
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2011, 04:17:58 PM »
Congrats, any record deserves props :cheers:

Offline fastman614

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Re: Sunswift Solar Land Speed Record
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2011, 08:43:53 AM »
This is pretty interesting stuff.... from what I know about solar power, this is a great accomplishment and everyone deserves big congratulations for a job well done!


So, if it got brought to Bonneville, I think Dan Warner would be having fits over the fact that it is a three wheeler.... but would the summer sun in Utah "supercharge" the solar cells?

On another note, what about going to Lake Gairdner for Australian Speedweek?
No s*** sticks to the man wearing a teflon suit.

Offline Graham

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Re: Sunswift Solar Land Speed Record
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2011, 06:59:51 PM »
Thanks Fastman  :cheers:

I was pretty concerned about the whole 3-wheel issue when we were planning, but the FIA seems to make a class exception here - the current record holder had 3 wheels too. In the end we didn't break the FIA record... and Guinness didn't care about number of wheels as their record is for a "vehicle" on land... could be anything!

I'd love to bring it to Bonneville as I have no doubt it could get up to 100km/h in good sun. Our record was set on a fairly cloudy day - although New South Wales gets a much more intense sun than Utah, full sun and reflection from the salt to any light clouds around would produce a high output from the array alright. However, the team is fully into preparation for the World Solar Challenge in Sept., ruling out any upping of our record for now. To be honest, the students are way more interested in that as the rally from Darwin to Adelaide is the adventure of a lifetime for them, whereas a land speed record only appeals to the motorsport nuts and I had to push them all the way  :roll:

Same goes for Lake Gairdner, which is only a month away - students will be busy working on new components for the car and studying for their mid-session exams. Such is the "problem" of it being a student team, but I guess that makes their achievements even more impressive. Not many guys and girls in their late teens and early twenties can say they designed and built a record holding vehicle.
Graham Doig
Fluids Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Projects - www.thinkflip.net
Aerospace Engineering Department
California Polytechnic State University

Offline fastman614

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Re: Sunswift Solar Land Speed Record
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2011, 05:59:50 AM »
Graham .... you got that right about not many people in their teens and twenties can say they designed and built a record holding vehicle.... in fact, on a worldwide scale, not many people of ANY AGE can say it!.... personally though, I can claim to have been co-designer/co-builder of two (so far)

Do remember to post some results to here while the cross country race is on, if possible, and the final results too!

Good luck to all of you!
No s*** sticks to the man wearing a teflon suit.